


The Weird Ones

by Leorajh



Category: Watch Dogs (Video Games)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-20
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-12-17 23:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11861508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leorajh/pseuds/Leorajh
Summary: A short story inspired by the idea that Marcus and Wrench were childhood friends who were separated and reunited later on in life.





	The Weird Ones

“Thanks for coming over to help me this weekend.” Marcus smiled at Wrench, unwrapping a model of the Master Sword from tissue paper and an old plaid blanket. The hacker carefully set the sword beside a replica of Link’s shield on the carpet, then smiled as Wrench plopped down on the floor in front of a pile of stuffed cardboard boxes held closed with duct tape.

 

“No need to thank me! Free food, free booze, and free bed for the weekend for helping you make a god awful mess? No one in their right fucking mind would turn that offer down.” Wrench’s mask displayed two carats as he used his pocketknife to cut the tape and pull open the cardboard.

 

“Hopefully not the only weekend we can hang out like this. It’s nice to finally get this place set up after camping out at the hackerspace for weeks on end.”

 

“What’s wrong with it? You’re always welcome there. I thought you might have decided to make it your permanent home.”

 

“Nothing at all. But it’d feel weird to just unload everything there. Man, I still don’t feel like I have a ‘place’ there, you get what I’m saying?”

 

“Oh, yeah, that’s true. We need to fix that. Aaaaaand maybe add a bathroom before Sitara goes nuts. Plumbing can’t be all that hard a venture, right?”

 

“Beats me. Oh,” Marcus stood up and gestured towards an empty black bookshelf. “You can stick everything in that box on those shelves. I don’t think there’s a specific order to anything. Speaking of a bathroom, I need to take a leak.”

 

“You got it! One chaotic library of books, coming right up!” Wrench started pulling books out of the box. Most of them were comics, graphic novels, required reading from high school, and some computer how-to manuals. Marcus was such a nerd, Wrench thought to himself with a chuckle. But as he was just about finished, he discovered a dense photo album near the bottom. It had a leather cover, but it was slightly damaged and cracked. The photo protector pages within the book were starting to yellow a little with age, and made the photos inside look cloudy. “Man, these are ancient.” He joked, relaxing on the floor and opening the album in his crossed legs.

 

The collection contained pictures upon pictures of Marcus growing up. Wrench started from the back after passing the unfilled pages, grinning dumbly at teenage Marcus and his high school achievements. He stood with a chorus group on a backdrop of munchkins, giant flowers, and a house with two striped stockings sticking out of the foundation, and in another the photographer caught him with a goofy look sitting at his desk in math class with his pencil between his teeth. Marcus hadn’t changed all that much from high school. Working his way back in time, Marcus got shorter and cuter with each page turn. A few loud chuckles amplified by the mask had Marcus’ curiosity piqued from the bathroom.

 

“What’s so funny? You find my comic books?”

 

“M, you were such a cute and hilarious kid! Your parents took photos of practically every fucking thing you did, didn’t they?”

 

“Yeah, mom loved her polaroids.” Marcus’ amusement was obvious though his muffled speech behind the closed door.

 

The photos were countless. Marcus sure loved hanging out with his dad too, and likewise his dad was happy to be with his son. Somewhere between the pages were a few larger, loose photos, which were quickly identified as school portraits. Wallets flooded out and eight by tens poked out. Marcus in a little red bowtie or an oversized Oakland Ohlones snapback was surely capable of giving a person diabetes, he was certain. Though there was something unusual about those photos as well upon reaching front of the book. The smaller Marcus was, the more familiar he seemed to the engineer. But why, he wondered silently.

 

Retr0 emerged from the bathroom after the sound of a toilet flushing and the sink running, adjusting the bottom of his Dedsec tee around his waist. “What’re you doing out here? Still looking in my photo album for dirt?” Marcus teased kneeling on the floor to cut the tape of a few more boxes.

 

“Yup!” Wrench replied cheerfully. “So much dirt! Think of the power I have armed with a photo of your face plastered in melted ice cream!”

 

“Dude, I wanna see your baby pictures sometime too. I’m sure yours are just as incriminating when it comes to being adorable.”

 

“M, those are photos that nobody should see. Besides, I don’t have any on my phone, so you’re out of luck for-” Wrench came across another loose photo tucked in between pages. He plucked it up and held it landscape style, squinting at all the tiny faces in the picture. It was a photograph of a kindergarten class. Wrench swallowed as Marcus curled behind him.

 

“Oh hey! That’s my kindergarten class. Man, that brings back memories.” Marcus sat with Wrench to share in the trip down memory lane. Wrench was quiet as Marcus pointed out all that he could remember. “Miss Stewart, room 105. She was so nice to everyone.”

 

“She probably swore like a sailor at home. Nobody’s that pure all the time. You’d go insane.”

 

The hacker went on and on, and Wrench felt his stomach sink despite putting on a funny front. Especially so when one detail was brought to attention.

 

“This dude here? He was my bro.” Marcus pointed to a little blonde boy who neglected to smile for the picture. “We were tight!” Marcus smiled wide. “We were like best friends. Man, we made sand castles all the time, and then stomped them down like Godzilla. And he showed me how to climb up the slide, that drove people nuts. Probably because they weren’t able to do it like we could. Dude knew all kinda stuff. I was really upset when we had to move to Oakland. Had to change schools. Never got a chance to tell'em goodbye.” Marcus frowned. “Shit, man.”

 

“Why are you upset?” Wrench blinked. “…Childhood friends…like, dude, everyone’s friends with each other.”

 

“Nah, man. We were the weird ones. How many other black kids you see in that photo? Just that girl, and she was a bitch to everyone. He was quiet and the kids thought he was weird, but he talked to me! And it sucks because I don’t remember anything about him. His name, where he lived…but I knew he was my bro. Hell, we’d probably still be friends today if we stayed in touch.”

 

“Watching Jimmy Siska, eating pizza, shooting the shit.” Wrench added.

 

“Yeah, man. I bet he’s a Siska fan now. We loved all the same cartoons and movies, and if we didn’t, we eventually got the other into it.” Marcus curled tighter against Wrench, holding the photo. “But I got you. You’re the best boyfriend in the world. BF squared.”

 

“That’s so cheesy, but also correct!” Wrench said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. The past was fun, but this was now. They were friends now, and there were no adults to tell them where to go and what to do…

 

Or to separate them ever again.

 

“This is right now! No time travel required!” Wrench slipped the class photo back into the album and closed it. Fate was a funny thing, and damn it for almost causing him to break down, he thought. “Let’s save the birth of Marcus Holloway for another time!”

 

“Haha, you got it.” Marcus smiled, fistbumping his friend.

**Author's Note:**

> A shoutout to nyghtmare who helped bring this to existence!
> 
> Also, if you're reading Still W4tching, I apologize for the wait. Some RL things popped up, and I'm also struggling with my outline a bit in regards to timing the events. Hoping to have something for you soon.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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